The present invention generally relates to devices for assisting setting of traps, in the preferred form, the setting of animal traps, and in the most preferred form, the setting of rodent traps for rats, mice, or the like.
Many types of rodent traps include a biased striker formed of wire bent in a rectangular shape. A common problem in setting such traps is that the striker often slipped out of the person's hand striking the other hand of the person which may be attempting to engage the trip bar with the trigger. Such striking may be extremely painful and even injurious especially for larger traps such as for trapping rats where the biasing force placed on the striker may be large. Similarly, due to the large biasing force of larger traps, greater force is necessary to move the striker to its set position and to hold the striker in its set position which increases the chances of the striker accidently slipping out of the grasp of the person setting the trap.
Prior attempts to solve problems in setting such traps have concentrated on redesigning the trap itself by incorporating members for purposes of holding and/or moving the striker. However, such traps have generally not been successful in the marketplace. One reason for this lack of market success is believed to be the fierce competition between manufacturers of such traps, with any added extras placing the trap at an economic disadvantage.
Thus, a need exists for a device which is an accessory to traps which assists the setting of such traps. Further, such devices should not require modification to existing trap designs and should be itself inexpensive to manufacture to make it affordable.